Zelas arched an eye-brow. "A reward? I see, then I will do my best to earn my share."He gave a short bow to Tamyra.

After listening intently to her briefing, he nodded and joined Auxzali in scanning the surrounding area.

Once they were alone, he addressed him in Quinnix.

< "It has been a while, friend. You left so suddenly, many were angered and all of them saddened. It surely must have been something important to make you take leave with such haste, this summons you mentioned." >

He glanced at Auxzali to try and gauge him, while scanning his environs. He indicated any findings with a nod, confident that Auxzali would pick up anything he did.

He set his ouzala down and crouched low to smell the foot-prints, he matched the smells with what he knew and stood up again.

< "I shan't ask you for something you do not wish share, though an explanation would be welcome after so many weeks following in your trek. I expect we won't be returning any time soon?" >

Auxzali did not answer Zelas for many long moments. Weighing his options, Auxzali pondered whether to answer him. Finally, he arrived at a decision.

<"As I said before, I recieved a message which called me from Bareka. But I did not say who sent it.">

He took out his Ouzala, and, cradling it horizontally in both hand, looked at it for a moment.

<"The night I left I had a dream, you see. In it, I saw an Esgol dwarf named Balnoah, who had come to Baraka centuries ago. I saw the gift our god, Axtrami, bestowed unto him, and I saw how the gift was broken and the dwarf killed.">

Auxzali looked up at his companion, and flipped his weapon into a more comfortable carrying position.

<"I am sure you have heard of the Axtrami Haiq Ouzala. By gathering the gift's pieces and presenting them with my ouzala at Axtrami's temple in Baraka my Ouzala shall join their number.">

Then, after Sigurd announced his findings, Auxzali told the rest of the snag of white fur they had found- no doubt from the same source as Sigurd's find. He also told them of the dragged... Something.

With the two sandmen occupied with whatever the Ouzquin usually talk about, Sigurd turned to Nim."So, how are things here in Sen-Rab? I just recently arrived - though as Tamyra pointed out, I may not be the first from our side of the hill?"He left many a thing unspoken - as evidenced by their guide, conversation between their two people were often minefields. So did for example any mention of the battle of Golhom Valley start a fight (it may very well be the only battle in recorded history, where both sides treacherously waylaid each other at once, and no one was certain who won).So might his question be understood as a polite conversation starter about the weather - or a question how the rebuilding effort was going.

Logged

"Captain, the buttocks are moving from the pink into the red and purple spectrum! We cannot maintain this rate of spanking any longer!"

Nim smiled widely at Sigurd. "Things are well enough. Trials come and go, but we remain."

"Turns out my search was fruitful, if a trifle base. There was more then feed and offal in the turkey's lair. There were creatures other then the birds in the lair - at least two large cats and several humans - one very much larger than average."

She suspected more was afoot than her countrylady was saying, and watched her reaction closest of all.

Zelas felt shaken after hearing his friend's ambitious plans. Of course he had heard mention of the Axtrami Haiq Ouzala, but he wondered over the wisdom in pursuing a mere dream like that. Of course the priests had their own way of looking at the world though. And vision or dream, he knew Auxzali wouldn't be satisfied until he had seen this through to the end. So let it be so, Zelas grimly thought, he had vowed to follow him, and follow him he would.

He nodded and together they returned to the others. He nodded agreement at the others' descriptions, he felt somewhat surprised that they had come up with as much as Auxzali and him had, perhaps these < voutzias > were more than mere dead-weight. Though none of them had seemingly found out any more than Tamyra, this woman intrigued him. Though he had to admit, from the looks of things, perhaps his chances would be better with this Nim woman. He grinned and shook his head. Best keep his thoughts on their present goal.

"Your assessment was correct, Tamyra. We seemingly found nothing to add, that your eyes haven't already seen. Panthers, yes. That large humanoid could likely be an ogre. I would have guessed a troll, but such stench would be hard to miss." After hearing Sigurd repeat his findings, he nodded.

"That would fit well with this tuft of white hair we found. Maybe orc, maybe yeti. But why would such creatures find themselves all the way down here?"

Though Nim studied Tamyra's reactions closely, she showed no signs of deception; she merely nodded knowingly at the sight of the panther and boot tracks. Although he did register surprise at the presence of a possible White-Orc, "I've never seen one of the Esgol Orcs before. I Can't think what they might be doing down here! As the Ralkharan said - they are not suited for this weather."

Tamyra took one final scan of the area then nodded, "Well, if you are all satisfied now... Can we continue on? Or do any of you have anything to add?"

The game will be fast-forwarded in 4-6 hours; last chance for a final mingling post before we head to the cave.

After the group determined that there was nothing else to share, they collected themselves and headed out. Tamyra led the way once more, leading them northwest from Tar-Sul's home.

As they delved deeper into the Muck, the insect life became abundant and the stench of rot and humidity became stifling. There were no farms this far out into the jungle; just the overwhelming plant and animal life all competing for survival. Snakes wrapped around branches, birds chirped through the canopy, flies and mosquitoes buzzed and frogs croaked deeply as the party waded through the stagnant swamp, sometimes having to go nearly waist-deep through the water - something that Sigurd found particularly uncomfortable in his mail. And finally, after nearly two hours of travel they arrived at their destination.

Tamyra paused and held out a hand for quiet. The group huddled together behind a trio of large trees, "Alright, the cave is just ahead. This is where I leave you. I will stay in the area but I will not enter with you - that's beyond my duty. Enter when you will, but take care - I assume it's just a couple of bandits to contend with, but the Muck has many dangers and I have learned to expect the worst. When - if - you succeed, I will find you again when you leave the cave."

Ahead the party, beyond their hidden spot lay the entrance to a natural cave; masked quite well between the trunks of trees. All seemed calm and at ease in the area; the birds chirped and the setting sun trickled in through patches in the canopy. It was really quite a pleasant scene which belied the potential danger of their mission.

The sound of water dripping echoed loudly, each droplet another hammer pounding at his head.

*Drop* *Drop*

Duxo stirred, shaking his head groggily.

"Hey... Hey! Are you awake!?"Finally Duxo opened his eyes. A single torch lit the place - it appeared to be a nearly rectangular room in a natural cave - shaped roughly by a chisel. A single, wooden door was built into the wall he was propped against, and in the opposite corner a natural tunnel snaked around a bend into darkness. Duxo's heart sank as he felt sturdy manacles around his wrists, connected by a short chain to the rock wall - caged! Imprisoned!. Next to him another man sat, equally manacled; Sen-Rabbin, by the looks of him - black hair and blue eyes... likely of a peasant background, and looking as beat-up as Duxo felt. Duxo made a quick check of himself - all his belongings, gone! He was only in his smallclothes. This was bad news...!

"Aah; I didn't think you were -ever- going to wake! Hey, you're from Hyparica, aren't you? What's your name? What happened to your face? They didn't do that to you, did they?"

Soaked to the bone, Zelas really regretted not preparing prestidigitation, a mistake he would set right as soon as it came time to rest.

He prepared a Light spell instead, if the need arose, then he cast Mage Armor on himself. He caught Nim's look and smiled, he turned and addressed the Ralkharan.

"Ser Sigurd, I trust that with your kind's legendary bravery you would prefere to go first?"

He smirked to himself, he didn't very much like caves, or anywhere that wasn't a tavern or a brothel for that matter, but if he had to go in one, it wouldn't hurt to send the tin-can in first. Stealth would of course be out of the question, but speed was more desirable to Zelas, this swamp was unbearable. It wasn't so much the heat(he was used to much worse), as the moist. He wiped his forehead on his sleeve. He gave some serious thought to staying out here with Tamyra, but at the sight of Auxzali's determined face, he sighed and conceded himself to his faith. This was turning out quite the hassle.

"Duxo Ish, out of Northport. And no, they're not the ones that burned off half my face." Standing up Duxo started examining where the chains went into the wall. "How long have these eir chewing sous zozas had me locked up?"

Grabbing the chains in his hands, Duxo planted his feet against the wall and pulled.

Logged

For the love of meat, shut up! No one wants to hear your emo character background! My hands are literally melting away, and I'm complaining less than you!—K'seliss, Goblins

Pull and tug as he might, the chain remained fixed firmly into the stone, and after some time straining, Duxo sighed and slumped back onto the ground. The Sen-Rabbin smiled in empathy, rubbing his head as he spoke, "Yeah, I tried that too, Duxo Ish - slipped on the stone and brained myself for my effort! I'm Tar-Sul. I'd shake your hand but... you know." Tar-Sul jingled the chains that connected him to the wall as well. "The bastards. Why are YOU here? What did you do to 'em?"

Entering the cave mouth...

True to Zelas's words, Sigurd took the lead with his longsword out, entering the blackened maw of the cave with a practiced calm and readiness that the Knights of Ralkhara were renowned for. Directly behind him walked Auxzali, the stoic cleric of Axtrami sharing a calmness not dissimilar to Sigurd. The Ouzquin Dremorix had his Ouzala out and at the ready. Nim-ty-Lyn and Zelas both took the rear. Somehow - perhaps since she was local and from a town not far from the muck - Nim had managed to remain fairly clean and dry in spite of the journey. She held her crossbow tightly, an expression of concentration plastered over her face. Zelas silently wished for a chance to take a nip of spirits to take the edge off his nerves - in fact, he even considered asking Sigurd if he could pop open that bottle of wine - the Mur-Nutab winery was known to him, and he knew it would be a good drop!

Inside, the cave turned into a wide tunnel with a slight downward slope. Stalactites dripped slow droplets of water onto the ground with a harmonious 'plink, plunk' and natural earthen rubble and boulders lay scattered throughout the cave. At the far end, it appeared the cave veered off into two directions. Sigurd had not taken three steps into the cave when he heard the scrabbling, though, followed by a threatening 'screech!'.

Atop the boulder directly before him stood a giant rat which hissed and screeched a warning at him. But it was enormous! It was a variety Nim-ty-Lyn had dealt with before in the Muck; she knew their ferocious reputation and their tendancy to be very aggressive towards humans. A second and third rat rolled out from behind the boulder, each tugging at one end of what appeared to be a suspiciously human bone. Upon seeing the intruders to the cave, though, they dropped the bone and turned towards the party. More scrabbling could be heard further back in the cave; another two of the verminous beasts!

The rats were extremely aggressive and wasted no time: Immediately, the one atop the boulder leapt at Sigurd, spittle flying from it's stretched jaw. It's jaws struck home... right onto the edge of the Knight's raised shield. It's teeth finding nothing but metal, the rat hissed viciously.

The second and third rat left their bone forgotten on the ground and charged straight past Sigurd. their beady black eyes fixated on Auxzali. One attempted to clamp onto the Sand-walker's knee but only managed to scrape it. The other missed by a large margain, it's teeth clacking in the air.

Finally, the last two rats scampered forward and snapped at Sigurd, but neither of them could penetrate the knight's armour.

While he was no warrior, Zelas, like any Ouzquin Dremorix, prided himself on possessing great presence in battle. Seeing the rats charge in, his first thought was to attack directly, but as they closed in on his companions, he decided on a different approach. Let's see how these rats, no matter how big, like being faced with their natural enemy!

I cast Summon Monster I, and summon a viper. Now, this is my first time playing a caster, I'm not sure how it all works, I don't think I need to roll for this. It's a full round action, and the viper will last for 1+1 rounds, I choose the celestial template.

The viper sprung directly into action, leaping with such a force at the first rat which attacked Sigurd that it actually lifted from the ground. Though the snake was tiny, it's small fangs struck true and the rat squealed painfully as poison was pumped deep into it's veins.

Meanwhile, Nim pointed towards one of the rats that accosted Auxzali with deadly intent. From her fingers a searing stream of flame leapt, burning it's way towards the verminous beast. To Nim's surprise however, the rat skipped back with surprising agility and the ray of flame struck the rocky ground forcefully, spewing rubble and rock but leaving the rat uninjured.

Seeing the viper engage the first giant rat, Sigurd swung his long sword with deadly precision at the last rat that came forth. The blade struck true, severing the creature's spinal cord ad the neck. The rat flopped around in its death throes, the violent action nearly tearing the head the rest of the way off.

Cursing under his breath when the rat bit his leg, he immediately glanced down at his leg to see his wound. Good, infection was at bay; further treatment and testing may be required... Auxzali snapped himself out of it. This was a battlefield, not a hospital! This was a place of death, not healing! One could either deal pain here or be dealt it, as the rat had so elegantly proved.

Auxzali then raised his hands in his casting stance and said in a calm, level voice, that belied the typical chaos of a combat "Axtrami... Storm Burst."

He let loose the power granted to him by Axtrami at the rat that Zelas' snake had poisoned. A sphere of clouds and rain and lightning flew towards the rat.

using weather domain Storm Burst ability, my attack roll would be three. I did get a five for nonlethal damage, though, so at least I rolled something decently.

The sphere crashed into the cave wall, bursting and causing a sudden downpour of rain, which quickly vanished. Auxzali, cursing his luck, retreated half a step, readying his ouzala to block and return a rat's next attack.

The tunnel echoed with the sounds of combat. The rats squealed and frothed. Though infuriated by the attack of the viper, the first creature re-doubled its efforts against Sigurd, leaping at the same time as the other living rat that accosted the Ralkharan knight. One of the rats failed to hit its mark, but the other managed to latch itself onto Sigurd's wrist, wrenching off a chunk of flesh!

Nim-ty-Lyn cursed as the rat which she had attempted to burn now turned to her and leapt! Suddenly the rat was thrust to the ground and burst apart! Auxzali, acting on instinct had swung his Ouzala down and caught the beast; the jagged glass teeth of his weapon raked into its flesh and turned the rat into a crushed pile of gore and jelly.

As Auxzali attacked the rat, so too, did the other beast attack him, but it's jaws missed their mark, clamping only on air.

Pulling himself off the ground Duxo paused for a second. "Shhh, you hear that? It sounds like fighting. " Grinning Duxo turned to his cell mate; "What you want to beat that they decided to kidnap some fool whose mates didn't agree with it?"

Logged

For the love of meat, shut up! No one wants to hear your emo character background! My hands are literally melting away, and I'm complaining less than you!—K'seliss, Goblins

"Let go, that shield belongs to the Crown!" Sigurd educated the rat first with words - but as a famous ranger once said: "Swords, not words!" was more appropriate. With a spirited swipe of his sword, he sought to repay the rat's courtesy.

Rolled 3, plus +3 for str, is a miss.

"Rats!" which was both a curse and dismay at the existence of these beasts being allowed at all.

Logged

"Captain, the buttocks are moving from the pink into the red and purple spectrum! We cannot maintain this rate of spanking any longer!"

Zelas's viper flung itself at the rat which had suffered a fiery blast from Nim, but the snake flew wide. It's time at an end, the viper faded away to nothingness with a faint, azure light as it was pulled back from whence it came.

Zelas's attack fared even worse than his snake, however, and he stumbled on the crack in the ground where Nim's first attack had landed. The older Ouzquin Dremorix cried in dismay as the spear-head of his Ouzala flung straight past the rat... And sunk into the thigh of Auxzali!The injury looked worse than it was, but the fact remained that Zelas had just stuck his friend and fellow Sand-Walker!

There was good news, though; the first rat, stricken with the viper's venom, began convusling, shuddering and falling to its flank wherebit writhed for a few seconds, then ceased to move.

viper attacks Rat 3: 4 +5 = 9. Missed, and dismissed!

A natural 1 draws a punishment! I spun the wheel and Auxzali paid for Zelas's mistake! Luckily the damage was low! (2 dmg!)

Tar-Sul nodded, listening, "Yeah, I can hear it! Maybe Demy-Sefrab's sent some people to look for me; they would have well and truly noticed I was gone by now!" The Sen-Rabbin farmer stood, looking to Duxo questioningly, "D'ya think we should call out?"

There was a change in the tone of attacks from the two remaining rats; an air of desperation was carried with their snapping teeth and ferocious squeals. The healthy rat took yet another bite at Sigurd, savaging his blue and white tabard but leaving the knight untouched.

The second verminous beast was growing especially frantic - it was severely injured by Nim's magical fire and confused. It snarled at Zelas, and since the Wizard had come close, frantically bit at the man. The attack went wide, however, once again leaving nothing but air in the mouth of the creature.

Cursing his lost footing, Zelas cried bitter tears at the shame wrought of his misguided stab. Gritting his teeth and cursing in Quinnix, he raised his ouzala, painted with his friend's blood, once more, aiming for the frantic rat that had come within his reach.